Last updated February 24, 2021.
For archived versions of this policy click here.
Our goal is to let the Shapeways community be as free as possible in sharing their creativity with others. We want to be an inspiring place, and a free flow of ideas, designs, and conversation is an essential element of this. So is striving to be nice, civil and helpful. In light of that, we have a few common sense rules that we ask you to keep in mind. These especially relate to copyrights and keeping Shapeways appropriate for a general audience.
Users of the Shapeways Service are responsible for making sure their content complies with this Content Policy.
As specified in our Terms & Conditions, we expect that the creator of a 3D design hold the copyrights to the content. Hence, please only upload your own original work, work that is freely available through a Creative Commons license, or work that does not infringe on the rights of another copyright holder. Users who repeatedly violate the rights of others are subject to the Shapeways repeat infringer policy and may have their access to Shapeways revoked.
On the Shapeways portal you can let other people see your work by making a model "display to the public” and you can "offer for sale to others". None of these settings will mean that any rights you have to this model will be transferred to the people viewing or ordering your model.
Be nice! This sounds simple but lots of mistakes happen when people ignore this simple rule. We would like everyone to make whatever they like, as 3D printing is a technology that enables innovation and the possibility to make completely new things is unlimited. However, we do take copyright seriously and are legally obliged to respond to any copyright infringement notices we receive.
Please do not infringe other people's intellectual property rights. (Intellectual property rights means copyright, patent, registered design, design right, trade mark or trade secret.)
We live in a culture of re-mix, re-use, and mashup but a good rule of thumb here is that if a person does not clearly give you the right to use their design, invention, logo, text, slogan etc. then you do not have the right to use it. If you do obtain work through a permissive license, please comply with the terms of that license. For example, if you are relying on a Creative Commons attribution license, please always give the originator of the material credit for their work. Please familiarize yourself with the details of fair use if you are planning to rely on fair use to make of works created by others.
Shapeways is a home for all kinds of personal expression, and we try to be a home for a number of different communities. However, the range of expression allowed on Shapeways does have limits. We also recognize that not all content is welcomed by all communities.
Our content policy serves at least two purposes. First, it attempts to clarify the types of models that we will not print. Second, it attempts to balance the abilities of our community to express itself with the interests of members of the Shapeways community who would prefer to avoid models that may not be appropriate for all audiences.
While all of our guidelines are designed to be comprehensive, we do reserve the right to refuse to print models even if they are not addressed by these guidelines.
If you are unsure if a model may violate any feature of our content policy, we invite you to contact our Trust and Safety team at [email protected]. You do not need to send in a final model — it can be a work in process or even just an idea. That email will open up a discussion designed to give you a decision from us on how the model will sit with our content policy. In the event that we can't give you a final answer because the idea isn't quite finished, we'll give you the guidelines that we will use to evaluate the model when it is done.
Finally, if you have a content-related concern about a specific model that someone else has posted in a Shapeways shop, we encourage you to report it using the “report abuse” flag at the bottom of every model page or to email the Trust and Safety team directly at [email protected].
Prohibited items on Shapeways generally fall into two categories: weapons and obscenity. While no list can be comprehensive, the following do's and don't should help you understand our rules.
There are some types of models that we welcome on Shapeways, but are not appropriate for all audiences. Our mature content tagging rules are designed to balance the interests of designers and members of the community who would prefer not to see mature content. Properly identifying mature content allows you to continue to share it on Shapeways while also allowing users who prefer not to see mature content to avoid it.
By default, mature content will only show up in searches for users who have opted into viewing mature content. Direct links to mature content will work for all users. Similarly, any user viewing your shop will be able to see all of the content in your shop.
You can set a model in your shop to "mature" by checking the box on its "discoverability" page.
What qualifies as mature content can be tricky, and no list can ever be inclusive. However, mature content includes:
We recognize that sometimes our designers use mature images to advertise content that would otherwise not be considered mature. For example, an image of a ring might include a semi-nude model or an image of a prop might depict graphic violence. If you decide to use mature imagery to advertise models that would otherwise be acceptable for a general audience, you must still tag your model as mature.
These are general rules that may be hard to apply to any specific situation. We encourage you to reach out to [email protected] if you are unclear how these rules might apply to you.
We reserve the right to remove comments and posts we deem inappropriate for our site. In cases of repeated misconduct, Shapeways reserves the right to close a user account and/or ban a user completely. Racism, prejudice, or hate speech in any shape or form will not ever be tolerated by us. The rules governing behavior on the forum can be found here.
When commenting on someone's model please try to be kind and constructive. Hours and hours of work could have gone into a design. A good comment will honor that effort. A good comment should make a person smile, encourage them, allow them to learn something or allow them to improve their work.
We know that everyone has a bad day once in a while. Some of us might be tempted to take this out on others. This is childish, grow up. We take a dim view of trolls and negativity in general. This is not to say that Shapeways should be a place where people only say, "you are awesome", "no you are awesomer", "no you are awesomest" to each other. There should be room for criticism but it should always be constructive.
In order to cooperate with and protect intellectual property rights owners, we implemented the following notice take down system. In case you find content on the Shapeways website which you think is inappropriate, might infringe your intellectual property right, or does not comply with our content policy, please notify us, making sure to include the information listed below.
Further, in case a 3D model subject to a takedown request has already been printed, we retain the right to destroy it, provided it is still in our possession, and cancel your order in accordance with the terms indicated in the Shapeways Terms and Conditions under section "Order". In such cases we might require you to indemnify us for our damages as set forth in the Shapeways Terms and Conditions under section "Indemnification".
With regard to non-published 3D designs (see section "Intellectual Property Rights" in the Shapeways Terms and Conditions), we retain the right to review and refuse any order when it does not comply with this Content Policy.
In addition, Shapeways has adopted the following general policy toward copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The address of the Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement ("Designated Agent") is listed at the end of this policy.
If you believe that material or content residing on or accessible through the Shapeways Website infringes a copyright, we encourage you to first contact the uploader directly through the model page. Many disputes have been resolved through friendly conversations between creators. While strongly recommended, we do not require you to contact the uploader prior to submitting this takedown request and will honor requests that were not preceded by an attempt to contact the uploader.
If contacting the uploader fails to resolve your concern, or if you prefer not to contact the uploader, please send a notice of copyright infringement containing the following information to the Designated Agent listed below. Upon receipt of the notice, we will work expeditiously to disable access to the model on our site. We cannot comply with a notice unless it contains all of the information below.
Filing a takedown notice against a model is a formal legal action that can have consequences both for the person filing the notice and the person receiving the notice. We strongly encourage you to research the law and/or consult an attorney to fully and accurately understand your rights before filing a formal takedown request.
Pursuant to Section 512 (c)(3)(A) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a takedown request must include all of the following:
Please contact the Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement for Company:
Contact DMCA Agent by email [email protected] or at
Shapeways HQ
228 Park Ave S, PMB 15839
New York, NY 10003-1502
USA
When removing content from the site, Shapeways will make reasonable attempts to inform the user of the notice for removal, the reason for the removal, and may provide the user with a copy of the notice with the notifying party’s contact information redacted. Shapeways will endeavor to remove the content in a timely manner. We take our users’ privacy seriously and will not give out a user’s details unless legally obliged to do so with a court order.
Once proper notification of copyright infringement is received by the Designated Agent, Shapeways may remove or disable access to such content. If Shapeways removes or disables access to content in response to an infringement notice, Shapeways will make reasonable attempts to notify the user that Shapeways has removed or disabled access to the content.
We will notify you if one of your models has been taken down as a result of a takedown request. If you feel that the takedown request was improper, you can submit a counter-notice requesting that the model be returned to the site.
As with the original takedown notice, filing a counter notice is a formal legal action. It can have consequences both for the person filing the notice and the person receiving the notice. We strongly encourage you to do your research and/or consult an attorney to fully and accurately understand your rights before filing a formal counter notice request.
If you believe that your content does not infringe any copyrights, you must send a counter-notice, pursuant to Sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please do not re-list or reactivate the content yourself.
The counter-notice must contain all of the following information listed below.
If a counter-notice is received by the Designated Agent, Shapeways may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that Shapeways may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright or intellectual property owner files an action seeking a court order against the user, the removed content may be replaced or access to it restored in 10 to 14 business days after receipt of the counter-notice, at Shapeways’ discretion.
Please contact Shapeways’ Designated Agent to submit Notifications of Claimed Infringement and Copyright Counter-Notices at the following address:
Contact DMCA Agent by email [email protected] or at
Shapeways HQ
228 Park Ave S, PMB 15839
New York, NY 10003-1502
USA
If you have any other questions please feel free to send us a message.
